Undergrad develops a curriculum to encourage meaningful dialogue

By

Meghan Krein

—

October 17, 2017

Kendall Bayer (BAE ’17) wanted to teach, but she wanted to find a way to really break down barriers in her classroom so she created her own curriculum. Kendall used a technique called The Culture Circle, a framework that promotes inclusive education, to develop a year-long curriculum.

She broke the curriculum into four units that were meant to be taught over the course of one school quarter. Each unit focused on a different issue that Kendall thought was prevalent in the community.

Using early childhood books, Kendall would read the students stories about the topic at hand and then they’d talk about it. Kendall would ask critical thinking questions, getting the students to compare the events in the story to what was going on in their lives. Over the course of the year, the students were building their knowledge and refining their opinions on the topics, Kendall says.

Each lesson was designed to build on the lesson prior. By the end of all units students were creating and implementing a project where they were directly combating an issue within the community or within their classroom.

Watch more of Kendall's story.

Video of The Curriculum I Created: Kendall Bayer, BAE, Early Childhood Education